Drom And Loughmore Battle To A Stalemate

Two late points helped Drom-Inch salvage a draw in an entertaining Jim and Ann Kennedy sponsored Mid Junior ‘A’ Football Final with holders Loughmore/Castleliney in Templemore on Friday evening.

Both teams provided a game of fast flowing football, but it was a case of leaving ones ‘shooting boots’ at home.

Loughmore were guilty of hitting a 11 of their 18 chances wide. Whilst Drom, hit 6 from 11 chances off the mark; led at half-time; but were fortunate to get a second bite of the cherry.

Drom-Inch, who crushed Loughmore in the round-robin section of this competition, were put on the back-foot for long periods in the opening half.

Despite all the scoring chances created, it took Loughmore until the sixth minute to break the deadlock from Murty Brennan and it was another six minutes before a ‘45’ saw Brennan add his second and the only set-piece scored by either side over the hour.

Drom who struggled to retain possession, turned this game on its head, albeit it against the run of play, when raising the Green Flag in the 17th minute.

Whilst Loughmore were squandering a goal chance at one end of the park, it saw Drom’s Kevin Butler break from the middle of the park and after getting a return pass from John Lillis fired low past Dominic Brennan in the Loughmore goal.

This was Drom’s best spell, adding further points from Liam Kennedy and Jamie Moloney respectively to go 1-2 to 0-2 clear.

However, Loughmore did not panic and brought the score back to a single point at the break with scores from David Foy and Murty Brennan to leave it 1-2 to 0-4 in favour of Drom at the halfway stage.

The wides tally continued to mount up on the resumption before Darren Danagher brought the sides level in the 42nd minute.

A minute later the evergreen Seamus Bohan should have raised the green flag when putting the ball over the crossbar when it looked easier to score to put Loughmore back in front.

It looked like Loughmore had done enough when Darren Danagher added his second point in the 52nd minute putting his side 0-7 to 1-2 clear. However it was not to be, in the fading light Drom provided a late-late show adding points from Shane Hassett and John Lillis in the 54th and 55th minutes respectively to salvage a replay.

Both sides left the field aware that better finishing will be required in the replay if they want to add this prestigious piece of silverware to their trophy cabinet.

If you wish, you can contact us using any of the methods below: Tipperary Star,Friar Street,Thurles, Co TipperaryEmail: news@tipperarystar.ieTelephone: 0504 29100

This website and its associated newspaper are full participating members of the Press Council of Ireland and supports the Office of the Press Ombudsman. This scheme in addition to defending the freedom of the press, offers readers a quick, fair and free method of dealing with complaints that they may have in relation to articles that appear on our pages. To contact the Office of the Press Ombudsman go to www.pressombudsman.ie or www.presscouncil.ie Tipparary Star provides news, events and sport features from the Tipperary area. For the best up to date information relating to Tipperary and the surrounding areas visit us at Tipperary Star regularly or bookmark this page.